Grounds

[Bucknekked]

How effective is a lighting rod on your house?

The best lightning rod for your protection is your own spine.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson
“I still say a church steeple with a lightning rod on top shows a lack of confidence”
― Doug McLeod

 

[Diesel57]

The best lightning rod for your protection is your own spine.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson
“I still say a church steeple with a lightning rod on top shows a lack of confidence”
― Doug McLeod

LOL

 

[mmulhern]

My house was hit by lightning 3-4 years ago. Or lightning struck mighty close because while the house had no damage it fried some electronics and left others alone. I can't remember everything but the big stuff was a projector, a Panasonic TC-P65ZT60, VHS player and a Blue Ray player. All of our clock radios got blown out. The receiver for the TC-P65ZT60 got fried but the receiver for the projector was fine.

I asked the insurance adjuster if a whole-house circuit breaker would have helped. What he told me was in his professional experience it doesn't make any difference. That lightning can get into a house through a water pipe or anything else. That lightening behaves in strange ways. That he had seen lighting fry electronics and never trip the whole-house circuit breaker. I'm not an expert, just relaying what I was told.

Thankfully the TC-P65ZT60 was still under warranty but I had to wrestle with insurance to get them to replace my other stuff.

If you ever run into insurance problems the following is important information.

The projector set up was left by the previous home owners and was 4:3. Initially insurance said they would give me nothing.

Then they admitted the projector and the TV receiver were an issue. I forget the model of projector but it had to be 7-8 years old. First they wanted them repaired. I sent it and the receiver to a repair shop and they validated both as unrepairable.

So insurance said they would get me a new projector and one new receiver for my TV.

The problem was they just wanted to pay for a projector but 4:3 projectors were no longer on the market. And my screen was 4:3. Also, the still functional receiver was for the projector and that didn't have any HDMI outputs.

We went back and forth and I spoke finally to someone in the insurance business who told me how to handle it.

In the insurance business (I'm sure there's someone on the forum who's much more educated about it than me) if a woman loses an ear-ring BOTH ear-rings are replaced, not just the lost one. It's a 'matched-set.'

Same thing with a HDMI only 16:9 projector coupled with a 4:3 screen and a HDMI-less receiver. In order to give me a 'matched-set' functional projector set up they agreed to replace both the projector and the receiver but but balked on the screen. Naturally that made no sense. They said I might get money for the screen but I would have to appeal and wait a few more months. Obviously a tactic to see if they could make me go away.

And it worked because I ended up taking the money and running. I remember getting a little over $4k out of the deal.

Approx $3k more invested and now I have a really nice 16:9 projector set up.

 

[Bucknekked]

My house was hit by lightning 3-4 years ago. Or lightning struck mighty close because while the house had no damage it fried some electronics and left others alone.

I asked the insurance adjuster if a whole-house circuit breaker would have helped. What he told me was in his professional experience it doesn't make any difference.

We may be splitting hairs here, but a whole house circuit breaker is not what TLS Guy and others are referring to when they speak of whole home power conditioning/surge protection etc at the service entrance. If you are unsure if lightning struck your home, or simply struck nearby somewhere, odds are very good it didn't strike your home. If your home took a direct strike, as Chris Farley once so eloquently stated "oh, that's gonna leave a mark".

I'm going to leave your insurance story for others.

 

[slipperybidness]

We may be splitting hairs here, but a whole house circuit breaker is not what TLS Guy and others are referring to when they speak of whole home power conditioning/surge protection etc at the service entrance. If you are unsure if lightning struck your home, or simply struck nearby somewhere, odds are very good it didn't strike your home. If your home took a direct strike, as Chris Farley once so eloquently stated "oh, that's gonna leave a mark".

I'm going to leave your insurance story for others.

LOL, right!

I can tell you that when my neighbors house took a direct hit, I was standing in my kitchen and I saw it get hit on the back corner of the roof! Scared the crap out of me and the pets! It was pouring rain, but I still had to go out back and have a look. There were smoldering bits of shingles on my back patio, and noticeable damage on their roof!

They lost anything plugged into the outlet at the time. I lost my old Dell tower computer, seems like maybe 1 other item that was of no significance.

 

[Bucknekked]

LOL, right!

I can tell you that when my neighbors house took a direct hit, I was standing in my kitchen and I saw it get hit on the back corner of the roof! Scared the crap out of me and the pets! It was pouring rain, but I still had to go out back and have a look. There were smoldering bits of shingles on my back patio, and noticeable damage on their roof!

They lost anything plugged into the outlet at the time. I lost my old Dell tower computer, seems like maybe 1 other item that was of no significance.

Lightning is scary business. Anybody that isn't scared sh*tless by a lightning strike has never been close. Its also really, really hard on electronics. I have lost big screen TVs over the years. I have learned to buy the extended warranty as my option for protection.